State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) recently voiced support for the proposed cuts and possible disassembly of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) touted by President Donald Trump.
With all eyes on the Elon Musk-headed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is targeting federal spending, waste and fraud, Trump has recently leaned on a longstanding promise to abolish the DOE.
After the appointment of DOE Secretary Linda McMahon, the agency announced last week that it would be cutting nearly half of its workforce, in keeping with Trump's agenda to significantly downsize or abolish the department altogether.
A Trump executive order is rumored to drop in the coming days. According to the Wall Street Journal, the draft of Trump's executive order would instruct McMahon to "take all necessary steps to facilitate the closure" of the DOE while operating to "the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law."
On a recent appearance on "The Real Story with Riley Lewis," Orr expressed optimism about the DOE cuts as a method of removing the strings attached to federal money and inducing states to spend within their means.
"Well, the U.S. Department of Education is basically a grant-giving organization where they pass out grants both to the colleges and universities for research and other programs, and also for the K-12 world," Orr said. "But with those grants, and with that funding, always comes strings attached. They want to enforce their federal policies. Many times, in the Democratic administrations, the strings get larger and tighter with those federal funds. So, in one sense, as President Trump works to downsize government and right-size government to get us to live within our means, this is a necessary thing that's going to have to happen, and states are going to have to realize we're going to live with less, and that might not be such a bad thing."
Orr seemed unphased at the prospect of shuttering the DOE, specifically with the amount of money going to universities and K-12 programs that might be gratuitous.
"[A]t the state level, we see in higher-ed, a lot of research," Orr explained. "Some of it certainly makes you scratch your head and go, 'Why are we spending taxpayer dollars on this or on that? And that's the heartening thing about the DOGE effort to go through and see the expenditures that are being made in higher-ed when it comes to these grants and research dollars that are being poured around the country."
"At the K-12 level, you have subsidies for meals, breakfasts for all children, free lunches and reduced, etc. And the money has, particularly during the COVID-era, become so great that now you're looking at schools that just say, 'we don't want to determine the eligibility of a child, whether they deserve a free and reduced lunch or not; we're just going to categorically give it to all children.' So this system of largesse, while we have trillion-dollar deficits in Washington that President Trump and his team are trying to address, we've got to rein it in. And there's not enough money for every little wish that Congress or past administrations have wanted to pour taxpayer dollars out on. And it's just heartening, again, to see someone taking control of it and making sure the decisions and the expenditures are wise ones and in the best for the American taxpayers," he added.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email [email protected].
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning
